GHAZIABAD: The Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC) has filed a petition in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) against the latter’s order to shift Pratap Vihar dumping ground, and said the NGT committee’s sudden decision to bar any dumping of waste at the landfill site has led to a civic mess. The corporation has sought a year’s time to relocate the site. The NGT is scheduled to hear the case on March 12.“In December last year, the NGT committee on solid waste management had barred the GMC from dumping waste at Pratap Vihar landfill site, and we were also asked to relocate it,” said A K Mishra, accounts officer in the GMC.“We got an extension till January and during that time the GMC explored all options to find an alternative spot to dump the waste, but got little success,” he said.Now in the absence of any landfill alternative, the GMC is forced to dump the waste at undesignated spots, like behind Mahamaya Stadium, eliciting angry response from the locals. “After we failed in convincing the committee to give us more time, we filed a petition in the NGT,” said Mishra. “We have been dumping waste at the Pratap Vihar landfill site for past 15 years and to find an alternate landfill site in such a short time is not possible, so in our petition to NGT, we have sought one year’s time to permanently relocate the site,” said the accounts officer.He further added that the efforts are on to start a designated landfill site at Galand and once waste to energy plant at the site starts, the problem will cease to exist automatically. At least 34 acres of land at Galand is required for waste to energy plant and so far 28 acres of land have been acquired.As a makeshift arrangement, the GMC has leased out 20 acres of land near Govindpuram for dumping waste.

Stay updated with all the Ghaziabad Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.